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Statistics for
Business and Economics
6th Edition
Chapter 6
Continuous Random Variables
and Probability Distributions
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-1
Chapter Goals
After completing this chapter, you should be
able to:
 Explain the difference between a discrete and a
continuous random variable
 Describe the characteristics of the uniform and normal
distributions
 Translate normal distribution problems into standardized
normal distribution problems
 Find probabilities using a normal distribution table
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-2
Chapter Goals
(continued)
After completing this chapter, you should be
able to:
 Recognize when to apply the exponential distribution
 Explain jointly distributed variables and linear
combinations of random variables
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-3
Probability Distributions
Probability
Distributions
Ch. 5
Discrete
Probability
Distributions
Continuous
Probability
Distributions
Binomial
Uniform
Hypergeometric
Normal
Poisson
Exponential
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Ch. 6
Chap 6-4
Continuous Probability Distributions
 A continuous random variable is a variable that
can assume any value in an interval




thickness of an item
time required to complete a task
temperature of a solution
height, in inches
 These can potentially take on any value,
depending only on the ability to measure
accurately.
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-5
Cumulative Distribution Function
 The cumulative distribution function, F(x), for a
continuous random variable X expresses the
probability that X does not exceed the value of x
F(x)  P(X  x)
 Let a and b be two possible values of X, with
a < b. The probability that X lies between a
and b is
P(a  X  b)  F(b)  F(a)
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-6
Probability Density Function
The probability density function, f(x), of random variable X
has the following properties:
1. f(x) > 0 for all values of x.
2. The area under the probability density function f(x) over
all values of the random variable X is equal to 1.0.
3. The probability that X lies between two values is the
area under the density function graph between the two
values.
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-7
Probability Density Function
4. The cumulative density function F(x0) is the area under
the probability density function f(x) from the minimum x
value up to x0
x0
f(x 0 )   f(x)dx
xm
where xm is the minimum value of the random variable x.
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-8
Probability as an Area
Shaded area under the curve is the
probability that X is between a and b
f(x)
P (a ≤ x ≤ b)
= P (a < x < b)
(Note that the
probability of any
individual value is zero)
a
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
b
x
Chap 6-9
The Uniform Distribution
Probability
Distributions
Continuous
Probability
Distributions
Uniform
Normal
Exponential
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-10
The Uniform Distribution
 The uniform distribution is a probability
distribution that has equal probabilities for all
possible outcomes of the random variable
f(x)
Total area under the
uniform probability
density function is 1.0
xmin
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
xmax x
Chap 6-11
The Uniform Distribution
(continued)
The Continuous Uniform Distribution:
f(x) =
1
if a  x  b
ba
0
otherwise
where
f(x) = value of the density function at any x value
a = minimum value of x
b = maximum value of x
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-12
Properties of the
Uniform Distribution
 The mean of a uniform distribution is
ab
μ
2
 The variance is
2
(b
a)
σ2 
12
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-13
Uniform Distribution Example
Example: Uniform probability distribution
over the range 2 ≤ x ≤ 6:
1
f(x) = 6 - 2 = .25 for 2 ≤ x ≤ 6
f(x)
μ
.25
ab 26

4
2
2
(b - a)2 (6 - 2)2
σ 

 1.333
12
12
2
2
6
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
x
Chap 6-14
Expectations for Continuous
Random Variables

The mean of X, denoted μX , is defined as the
expected value of X
μX  E(X)

The variance of X, denoted σX2 , is defined as the
expectation of the squared deviation, (X - μX)2, of a
random variable from its mean
σ 2X  E[(X  μX )2 ]
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-15
Linear Functions of Variables
 Let W = a + bX , where X has mean μX and
variance σX2 , and a and b are constants
 Then the mean of W is
μW  E(a  bX)  a  bμX
 the variance is
σ  Var(a  bX)  b σ
2
W
2
2
X
 the standard deviation of W is
σW  b σX
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-16
Linear Functions of Variables
(continued)
 An important special case of the previous results is the
standardized random variable
X  μX
Z
σX
 which has a mean 0 and variance 1
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-17
The Normal Distribution
Probability
Distributions
Continuous
Probability
Distributions
Uniform
Normal
Exponential
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-18
The Normal Distribution
(continued)
‘Bell Shaped’
 Symmetrical
f(x)
 Mean, Median and Mode
are Equal
Location is determined by the
mean, μ

Spread is determined by the
standard deviation, σ
The random variable has an
infinite theoretical range:
+  to  
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
σ
μ
x
Mean
= Median
= Mode
Chap 6-19
The Normal Distribution
(continued)

The normal distribution closely approximates the
probability distributions of a wide range of random
variables

Distributions of sample means approach a normal
distribution given a “large” sample size (Will say
more on this later!!)

Computations of probabilities are direct and elegant

The normal probability distribution has led to good
business decisions for a number of applications
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-20
Many Normal Distributions
By varying the parameters μ and σ, we obtain
different normal distributions
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-21
The Normal Distribution
Shape
f(x)
Changing μ shifts the
distribution left or right.
σ
Changing σ increases
or decreases the
spread.
μ
x
Given the mean μ and variance σ we define the normal
distribution using the notation
X ~ N(μ,σ 2 )
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-22
The Normal Probability
Density Function
 The formula for the normal probability density
function is
1
 (x μ) 2 /2σ 2
f(x) 
e
 2π
Where
e = the mathematical constant approximated by 2.71828
π = the mathematical constant approximated by 3.14159
μ = the population mean
σ = the population standard deviation
x = any value of the continuous variable,  < x < 
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-23
Cumulative Normal Distribution
 For a normal random variable X with mean μ and
variance σ2 , i.e., X~N(μ, σ2), the cumulative
distribution function is
F(x 0 )  P(X  x 0 )
f(x)
P(X  x 0 )
0
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
x0
x
Chap 6-24
Finding Normal Probabilities
The probability for a range of values is
measured by the area under the curve
P(a  X  b)  F(b)  F(a)
a
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
μ
b
x
Chap 6-25
Finding Normal Probabilities
(continued)
F(b)  P(X  b)
a
μ
b
x
a
μ
b
x
a
μ
b
x
F(a)  P(X  a)
P(a  X  b)  F(b)  F(a)
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-26
The Standardized Normal

Any normal distribution (with any mean and variance
combination) can be transformed into the
standardized normal distribution (Z), with mean 0
and variance 1
f(Z)
Z ~ N(0 ,1)
1
0

Z
Need to transform X units into Z units by subtracting the
mean of X and dividing by its standard deviation
X μ
Z
σ
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-27
Example

If X is distributed normally with mean of 100
and standard deviation of 50, the Z value for
X = 200 is
X  μ 200  100
Z

 2.0
σ
50

This says that X = 200 is two standard
deviations (2 increments of 50 units) above
the mean of 100.
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-28
Comparing X and Z units
100
0
200
2.0
X
Z
(μ = 100, σ = 50)
(μ = 0, σ = 1)
Note that the distribution is the same, only the
scale has changed. We can express the problem in
original units (X) or in standardized units (Z)
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-29
Finding Normal Probabilities
b μ
 a μ
P(a  X  b)  P
Z

σ 
 σ
 b μ  a μ
 F
  F

 σ   σ 
f(x)
a
a μ
σ
µ
b
x
0
b μ
σ
Z
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-30
Probability as
Area Under the Curve
The total area under the curve is 1.0, and the curve is
symmetric, so half is above the mean, half is below
f(X) P(   X  μ)  0.5
0.5
P(μ  X   )  0.5
0.5
μ
X
P(   X   )  1.0
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-31
Appendix Table 1
 The Standardized Normal table in the textbook
(Appendix Table 1) shows values of the
cumulative normal distribution function
 For a given Z-value a , the table shows F(a)
(the area under the curve from negative infinity to a )
F(a)  P(Z  a)
0
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
a
Z
Chap 6-32
The Standardized Normal Table
 Appendix Table 1 gives the probability F(a) for
any value a
.9772
Example:
P(Z < 2.00) = .9772
0
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
2.00
Z
Chap 6-33
The Standardized Normal Table
(continued)
 For negative Z-values, use the fact that the
distribution is symmetric to find the needed
probability:
.9772
.0228
Example:
P(Z < -2.00) = 1 – 0.9772
= 0.0228
0
2.00
Z
.9772
.0228
-2.00
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
0
Z
Chap 6-34
General Procedure for
Finding Probabilities
To find P(a < X < b) when X is
distributed normally:

Draw the normal curve for the problem in
terms of X
 Translate X-values to Z-values
 Use the Cumulative Normal Table
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-35
Finding Normal Probabilities
 Suppose X is normal with mean 8.0 and
standard deviation 5.0
 Find P(X < 8.6)
X
8.0
8.6
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-36
Finding Normal Probabilities
(continued)

Suppose X is normal with mean 8.0 and
standard deviation 5.0. Find P(X < 8.6)
X  μ 8.6  8.0
Z

 0.12
σ
5.0
μ=8
σ = 10
8 8.6
μ=0
σ=1
X
P(X < 8.6)
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
0 0.12
Z
P(Z < 0.12)
Chap 6-37
Solution: Finding P(Z < 0.12)
Standardized Normal Probability
Table (Portion)
z
F(z)
.10
.5398
.11
.5438
.12
.5478
P(X < 8.6)
= P(Z < 0.12)
F(0.12) = 0.5478
Z
.13
.5517
0.00
0.12
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-38
Upper Tail Probabilities
 Suppose X is normal with mean 8.0 and
standard deviation 5.0.
 Now Find P(X > 8.6)
X
8.0
8.6
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-39
Upper Tail Probabilities
(continued)
 Now Find P(X > 8.6)…
P(X > 8.6) = P(Z > 0.12) = 1.0 - P(Z ≤ 0.12)
= 1.0 - 0.5478 = 0.4522
0.5478
1.000
1.0 - 0.5478
= 0.4522
Z
0
0.12
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Z
0
0.12
Chap 6-40
Finding the X value for a
Known Probability
 Steps to find the X value for a known
probability:
1. Find the Z value for the known probability
2. Convert to X units using the formula:
X  μ  Zσ
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-41
Finding the X value for a
Known Probability
(continued)
Example:
 Suppose X is normal with mean 8.0 and
standard deviation 5.0.
 Now find the X value so that only 20% of all
values are below this X
.2000
?
?
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
8.0
0
X
Z
Chap 6-42
Find the Z value for
20% in the Lower Tail
1. Find the Z value for the known probability
Standardized Normal Probability  20% area in the lower
Table (Portion)
tail is consistent with a
z
F(z)
.82
.7939
.83
.7967
.84
.7995
.85
.8023
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Z value of -0.84
.80
.20
?
8.0
-0.84 0
X
Z
Chap 6-43
Finding the X value
2. Convert to X units using the formula:
X  μ  Zσ
 8.0  ( 0.84)5.0
 3.80
So 20% of the values from a distribution
with mean 8.0 and standard deviation
5.0 are less than 3.80
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-44
The Exponential Distribution
Probability
Distributions
Continuous
Probability
Distributions
Normal
Uniform
Exponential
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-45
The Exponential Distribution
 Used to model the length of time between two
occurrences of an event (the time between
arrivals)
 Examples:
 Time between trucks arriving at an unloading
dock
 Time between transactions at an ATM Machine
 Time between phone calls to the main operator
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-46
The Exponential Distribution
(continued)
 The exponential random variable T (t>0) has a
probability density function
f(t)  λ e
λ t
for t  0
 Where
  is the mean number of occurrences per unit time
 t is the number of time units until the next occurrence
 e = 2.71828
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-47
The Exponential Distribution
 T is said to follow an exponential probability distribution
defined by a single parameter, its mean  (lambda)
 The cumulative distribution function (the probability that
an arrival time is less than some specified time t) is
F(t)  1 e
where
λt
e = mathematical constant approximated by 2.71828
 = the population mean number of arrivals per unit
t = any value of the continuous variable where t > 0
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-48
Exponential Distribution
Example
Example: Customers arrive at the service counter at
the rate of 15 per hour. What is the probability that the
arrival time between consecutive customers is less
than three minutes?

The mean number of arrivals per hour is 15, so  = 15

Three minutes is .05 hours

P(arrival time < .05) = 1 – e- X = 1 – e-(15)(.05) = 0.5276

So there is a 52.76% probability that the arrival time
between successive customers is less than three
minutes
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-49
Joint Cumulative Distribution
Functions

Let X1, X2, . . .Xk be continuous random variables

Their joint cumulative distribution function,
F(x1, x2, . . .xk)
defines the probability that simultaneously X1 is less
than x1, X2 is less than x2, and so on; that is
F(x1, x2,, xk )  P(X1  x1  X2  x2 Xk  xk )
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-50
Joint Cumulative Distribution
Functions
(continued)

The cumulative distribution functions
F(x1), F(x2), . . .,F(xk)
of the individual random variables are called their
marginal distribution functions

The random variables are independent if and only if
F(x1, x2,, xk )  F(x1)F(x 2 )F(xk )
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-51
Covariance
 Let X and Y be continuous random variables, with
means μx and μy
 The expected value of (X - μx)(Y - μy) is called the
covariance between X and Y
Cov(X, Y)  E[(X  μx )(Y  μy )]
 An alternative but equivalent expression is
Cov(X, Y)  E(XY)  μxμy
 If the random variables X and Y are independent, then the
covariance between them is 0. However, the converse is not true.
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-52
Correlation
 Let X and Y be jointly distributed random variables.
 The correlation between X and Y is
Cov(X, Y)
ρ  Corr(X, Y) 
σ Xσ Y
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-53
Sums of Random Variables
Let X1, X2, . . .Xk be k random variables with
means μ1, μ2,. . . μk and variances
σ12, σ22,. . ., σk2. Then:

The mean of their sum is the sum of their
means
E(X1  X2   Xk )  μ1  μ2   μk
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-54
Sums of Random Variables
(continued)
Let X1, X2, . . .Xk be k random variables with means μ1,
μ2,. . . μk and variances σ12, σ22,. . ., σk2. Then:

If the covariance between every pair of these random
variables is 0, then the variance of their sum is the
sum of their variances
Var(X1  X2    Xk )  σ12  σ 22    σk2

However, if the covariances between pairs of random
variables are not 0, the variance of their sum is
K 1 K
Var(X1  X2    Xk )  σ12  σ 22    σk2  2  Cov(X i , X j )
i1 ji1
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-55
Differences Between Two
Random Variables
For two random variables, X and Y

The mean of their difference is the difference of their
means; that is
E(X  Y)  μX  μY

If the covariance between X and Y is 0, then the
variance of their difference is
Var(X  Y)  σ 2X  σ 2Y

If the covariance between X and Y is not 0, then the
variance of their difference is
Var(X  Y)  σ 2X  σ 2Y  2Cov(X, Y)
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-56
Linear Combinations of
Random Variables
 A linear combination of two random variables, X and Y,
(where a and b are constants) is
W  aX  bY
 The mean of W is
μW  E[W]  E[aX  bY]  aμX  bμY
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-57
Linear Combinations of
Random Variables
(continued)
 The variance of W is
σ 2W  a2σ 2X  b2σ 2Y  2abCov(X, Y)
 Or using the correlation,
σ 2W  a2σ 2X  b2σ 2Y  2abCorr(X, Y)σ Xσ Y
 If both X and Y are joint normally distributed random
variables then the linear combination, W, is also
normally distributed
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-58
Example
 Two tasks must be performed by the same worker.
 X = minutes to complete task 1; μx = 20, σx = 5
 Y = minutes to complete task 2; μy = 20, σy = 5
 X and Y are normally distributed and independent
 What is the mean and standard deviation of the time to
complete both tasks?
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-59
Example
(continued)
 X = minutes to complete task 1; μx = 20, σx = 5
 Y = minutes to complete task 2; μy = 30, σy = 8
 What are the mean and standard deviation for the time to complete
both tasks?
W  XY
μW  μX  μY  20  30  50
 Since X and Y are independent, Cov(X,Y) = 0, so
σ 2W  σ 2X  σ 2Y  2Cov(X, Y)  (5)2  (8)2  89
 The standard deviation is
σ W  89  9.434
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-60
Chapter Summary
 Defined continuous random variables
 Presented key continuous probability distributions and
their properties

uniform, normal, exponential
 Found probabilities using formulas and tables
 Examined when to apply different distributions
 Reviewed properties of jointly distributed continuous
random variables
Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chap 6-61